| SUMMARY |
This article offers valuable insights on how to be a successful associate at a law firm and the qualities needed to make a partner. It highlights ways to impress the client and partner, such as understanding the case thoroughly, meeting billable hour requirements, staying busy, and taking professional development seriously. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of honesty and suggests using services like BCG Search to further one's legal career. Ultimately, the article provides guidance on becoming an asset and moving up in the legal profession. As you pursue partnership, you’ll also benefit from reviewing the article on 21 pieces of career advice no one gives attorneys, which offers lesser-discussed habits and mindsets many successful associates follow.
| QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS ARTICLE |
- What are some tips to stand out from other associates in the legal industry?
To stand out from the other associates, you should always meet and exceed billable hour requirements. Take time to get to the root of a case, understand its nuances as much as possible, and know as much or more than your client knows about it. Also, look for opportunities to do work and stay busy, take professional development seriously, and be honest when you make mistakes.
- What should I focus on to get a partnership position?
To get a partnership position, working hard and focusing on professional development is essential. Look at the most successful partners in the firm and try to do what they do even better. Increase your soft skills, research clients’ cases, suggest additional briefings or motions that will create value for the client and strive to generate money for the firm.
- How can BCG Search help with my law career?
BCG Search is a recruitment agency that helps attorneys and associates find the best job opportunities in the industry. They have a solid relationship with the country’s biggest law firms, allowing them to place thousands of professionals in top positions that can lead to partnerships.
- What quality should I demonstrate if I want to become partner?
Honesty is an essential quality to demonstrate if you want to become partner. Admit your mistakes, and remember that a mistake rarely ends a career, but getting caught lying or covering up will likely result in the end of a successful law career.
- What type of work should I suggest to increase billable hours?
To increase billable hours, suggest additional briefings, motions, or research to create value for the client. Doing this can help add more value to your work and ensure that you provide the best services possible. Ultimately, this should increase the number of hours you can bill.
Most law students, junior associates, and senior associates share a common career goal — to make partner in a big law firm. Law firm partners enjoy a privileged position. They buy into the firm in exchange for a share of profits and ownership. They also have more input in the day-to-day running of the firm. If you want to understand what drives a firm’s decision-making around promotions, take a look at the article on the only seven reasons a law firm will ever make you partner, which aligns closely with these ten characteristics.
Most law firms have a set partnership track to ensure the best and most successful associates stay at the firm. In smaller firms with less competition, getting made partner may be relatively easy if you are willing to work hard.
But suppose you want to be one of the top candidates for partnership in a big law firm. In that case, you are up against the stiff competition. You may need more than just putting in a ton of billable hours to help you stand out from the crowd. Therefore, if you want to become partner in ten years or less, you will have to build a stellar reputation in your career early on.
How can you become a “superstar associate” who gets fast-tracked to partnership? You must learn the ten characteristics of successful associates who get made partner.
Traits of Successful Law Firm Associates
Successful law firm associates have certain professional habits and values that distinguish them from other lawyers. For example, those who become partners show dedication to hard work, loyalty to the law firm, reliability, and attention to detail. These qualities boost an associate’s credibility and dependability, setting them apart from other associates.Learn From the Mistakes of Associates Who Never Make Partner
Unfortunately, some associates make serious errors in their career path and never make partnership with successful firms. For example, they often lack attention to detail, cut corners, and sometimes question a partner’s decisions. Additionally, they build a reputation for not caring about their work and the firm.Even if you’re not solely focused on equity partnership, the complete attorney career guide: navigating career paths and lateral moves lays out paths that supplement or deviate from the traditional route.
The Top Ten Characteristics of Successful Associates Who Make Partner
To make partner with a law firm, it is important to develop the specific attributes partners seek. Understanding these traits will give you clarity on how to move from an associate’s level of practice to that of a fully-fledged partner.Here are ten key characteristics of every successful law firm associate and how you should use them for success in your legal career.
Conversely, if you neglect these traits, you risk falling prey to the seven reasons attorneys never have the successful careers they’re capable of.
- Associates who make partner love their job
The best way to enjoy your law career is to find a practice area where your legal skills shine through. Many of the most enthusiastic and brilliant lawyers solve clients’ problems. This could be working with consumers, corporate clients, or family law. Regardless of the area, you must love what you do.
Therefore, the best career advice is to find a practice area early in your career that you enjoy. Then, not only will you perform better, but you will enjoy your work. In addition to business development and billables, you’ll want to check out the piece on overcoming self-sabotage in your legal career, as mindset often undermines high-performers.
- Successful associates treat partners like valued clients.
Partners want to keep clients happy. And they want to assign you to work and receive it back error-free and to a high standard. In this respect, you keep partners and the firm’s clients happy. Partners don’t want to feel stressed when they give you work. Nor do they want to send it back for multiple revisions.
However, your chances of partnership decrease the more you question the partner’s instructions or do things your way. This behavior leads to conflict and problems because things do not go smoothly.
And since partnership is often tied to compensation, review the highest-paid attorney jobs: a complete guide to maximum legal earnings in 2025 to understand the financial payoff of advancement.
- Connect with mentors to further your legal career
Having a mentor as a partner is about more than just your professional development in law practice. In addition, they can help you develop soft skills such as management, business development, and political aptitude — all of which are key to being a successful law firm partner.
Therefore, always appreciate the importance of getting a trusted mentor and working hard to nurture the relationship. Then, they will go out of their way to further your career advancement.
A word of warning: keep the relationship with the mentor on a professional level. You should only be discussing your professional life, never anything overly personal.
If the partnership track doesn’t fit your goals, the article on alternative career paths for attorneys offers more than 50 viable options beyond the traditional firm route.
- Stay in control to make partner in a big law firm.
Think of the impression you give to a client if you turn up late, look a little shabby, and need help finding the right documents. Do you think they feel confident in your abilities to win the case? On the contrary, they are most likely to become worried about you, and you will reflect poorly on the firm.
There is another aspect of control when it comes to professional relationships. Control how much you discuss with your colleagues about your private life. Of course, it’s fine to mention your partner or children. But don’t make it public knowledge arguments you have with your spouse or complain about your partner’s poor behavior.
Some other things you must control if you want to increase your chances of making partner are the following:
The amount of time you use your cell phone at work to discuss personal matters.
- Assume that everything you do on your work computer is recorded.
- Control the amount of alcohol you drink so you never come to work hungover.
- Avoid office romances
- Show commitment to the firm to get made partner
One of the biggest red flags in an associate’s career is changing firms frequently. While it is acceptable to make a lateral move, it must be for the right reasons. For example, moving to better and larger firms shows commitment to your career. Similarly, moving into a more specialized practice area shows commitment.
Unfortunately, many attorneys ruin their chances of being made partner by getting upset at negative feedback. As a result, they decide to leave the firm and look for one that will treat them better. What they should be doing instead is working harder and fixing the issues.
Here are two additional red flags that show a lack of commitment:
- Talking about better salaries at larger law firms.
- Constantly complaining about your practice area.
- The most successful associates build and retain a stellar reputation.
Here are a few positive signs that you are building a solid reputation that gets noticed by partners:
- Your work is always of the highest quality.
- Documents you prepare are free from errors, typos, and incomplete citations.
- You keep partners and colleagues informed about timeframes.
- If you think you will miss a deadline, you let the responsible partner know.
- You are prepared to put in extra hours to finish assignments on time.
Before you jump firms in a bid to accelerate to partner, consider the insights in why hard-working attorneys should stay at their firms, which examines the benefits of continuity.
- Work hard and be available to get a partner position.
When assigned a case, it is crucial to understand its nuances as much as possible. So, take time to get to the root of the matter. Get to know the case “inside-out” and know as much or more than your client knows about it.
The main point is that you don’t just impress the client and partner but have a better command of the facts. As a result, you are in a better position to win the case for the client.
Here are valuable insights on how you can do this:
- Be in the office when the partner is there.
- If they are working over the weekend to finish the case, be there with them.
- Work as hard as possible on cases with a large billable hour requirement.
- The best associates in a law firm stay busy.
However, you cannot come up with meaningless work and tasks just to bill a client — regardless of how rich they are. Instead, you should be looking for ways to benefit the client. Therefore, always try and find work to do for the client. Find things that should be done and suggest them to the partner.
For example, you could suggest additional briefings, research, or motions. Anything that will create value for the client and increase the number of hours you can bill.
- Keep improving at what you do to get a partnership position.
There are many opportunities in the legal profession for professional and personal development. For example, can you write briefs better? What about your soft skills? Are there areas where you could improve on? Could you put in more effort to learn about clients’ cases?
- Associates who make partner are always honest.
Remember this — a mistake rarely end careers. But getting caught lying or covering up mistakes inevitably results at the end of a potentially successful law career.
How BCG Search Can Further Your Law Career
Working with a good legal recruitment agency can help further your career. At BCG Search, we spend many hours matching your resume with suitable jobs in the industry. Because of our solid relationship with the country’s biggest law firms, we have helped to place thousands of attorneys and associates in top jobs that end in partnership positions. For a broader view beyond partnership specifically, see the complete guide to legal careers: what types of jobs are there for lawyers?, which maps the full legal job landscape.WATCH THE WEBINAR REPLAY
See Harrison Barnes discuss this article in full by watching the webinar replay. Click this link to watch it now!
